Apple’s Patent Win Delays Shipments of Two HTC Smartphones

Shipments of the HTC One X have been blocked by U.S. Customs enforcement. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

If you’re looking to buy an HTC One X or Evo 4G LTE smartphone, you might have to wait awhile. Shipments of the two new Android handsets are currently being blocked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who are reviewing the devices to make sure they don’t violate an Apple patent.

“The U.S. availability of the HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order,” HTC told Wired in an e-mail. “We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.”

The holdup comes as part of a ban on a limited number of HTC smartphones that went into effect on April 19. The ban was the product of a patent suit ruling made by the International Trade Commission in December. The Commission found that HTC was infringing on a 1996 Apple patent — patent number 5,946,647 — that covers the “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data.”

Essentially, the ITC ruled that Apple has a patent on a data-detecting function: When you receive an e-mail or text message containing, say, phone numbers or URLs, your device will convert those elements to live links. Tap a link, and you’ll be sent straight to your phone app, web browser, and so on.

HTC says it has fixed the way it deals with links to computer-generated data, and that the One X and Evo 4G LTE should eventually be cleared for sale. But, so far, HTC can’t say when the matter will be resolved.

Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection were unavailable for comment by press time.

The One X and the new Evo are the first two phones to face the ITC-imposed review process, though a small number of One X handsets did ship to the United States before the April 19 ban on patent-violating devices went into effect. The HTC One S, which runs the same software as the One X and the Evo 4G LTE — Google’s Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) skinned in HTC’s Sense 4 user interface — was shipped to the United States before April 19.

The delay could result in the Evo 4G LTE missing its launch date on Sprint’s network, which is this Friday. The One X, an AT&T exclusive in the United States, went on sale May 6.